Cal Poly Named California’s Best Public-Master’s University by Forbes

SAN LUIS OBISPO — Cal Poly has again been named the best public-master’s university in California in the annual Forbes Top Colleges rankings, released this week.

Cal Poly was listed seventh in the state on the America’s Top Colleges list among public universities, behind first-place UC Berkeley and University of California campuses at Los Angeles, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Davis and Irvine — all highly active research institutions that offer doctorate degrees as well as bachelor’s and master’s degrees.

Cal Poly ranked 37th among all public universities in the nation. Overall, the university was 137th among the 650 public and private not-for-profit universities in the U.S. ranked in the 11th annual list. The top five schools were Harvard, Yale and Stanford universities, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Princeton University.

The magazine’s goal in producing the America’s Top Colleges list is to measure how well universities prepare their students to succeed in their chosen fields and support students so they can graduate in four to six years and join the workforce. Forbes’ methodology favors variables such as alumni salary, student debt and retention and graduation rates instead of more common metrics such as acceptance rates, endowment amounts and freshmen SAT scores.

“Student success is Cal Poly’s primary focus, and this ranking shows we are fulfilling our promise to prepare our graduates to excel in their careers and in their lives,” said Cal Poly President Jeffrey D. Armstrong.

In April, Forbes also named Cal Poly a Best Value College — one of 300 public and private schools the magazine said were “worth the investment.” Cal Poly was ranked and 65th in the nation among public and private colleges and 10th in the state among public schools.